Darnell Langston 

Delacreme Scholar Spotlight Class of 2020

By Bragard Kizenga

Your name and the year you were awarded?

I’m a man of many names. I podcast as D.Alonzo Lang. My friends know me as Nelly Nell. You’ll find my scholarship application under Darnell Langston though, so you can call me that for the newsletter. That was around 2019 when I applied. Junior(ish) year... you know how it be with college credits. College student regardless, and my application was accepted for me to be a 2020 scholar.

What led you to apply for the scholarship?

I applied for the scholarship because I was a college student who needed the money at the time. I received my scholarship literally RIGHT before the pandemic hit. All my jobs were through the university. When things shut down, I was shut down for a minute too. In a way, the scholarship ended up being a stimulus check before the government even discussed it. It’s kinda poetic if you think about it.

Could you tell more about FriendlyFolks and how it came about?

Friendly Folks is the result of me being unapologetically me. I like to smoke weed. Recreationally, and medicinally. I also like to be successful in all my endeavors. So far, I’ve done a pretty good job of bringing the two together. The world is becoming more cannabis friendly, but people still look at cannabis users, aka stoners, as unproductive addicts. I created the Friendly Folks Podcast to provide representation into the stoner community to normalize cannabis usage and to use it to push the needle forward on other conversations that need to be had. My favorite episode right now is Folks v.s Misogynoir. I’ve also done an episode talking about the Brittney Griner situation. I’m liable to talk about whatever is fresh on my mind and freshly affecting the world. I’ve decompressed a lot of uncomfortable dialogues in my real life by matching a blunt. Snoop Dogg once said that if you put a bunch of strangers in a room with a bottle of alcohol, someone might end up wanting to kill the other. But if you put them in there with a blunt in rotation, they’ll all come out laughing. I’ve seen it happen, he’s right! And so, I started the Friendly Folks Podcast and other Friendly Folks endeavors to advocate and advance for the culture, one blunt at a time. Tap in with me @FriendlyFolksChi on IG and YouTube.

What would you tell future Delacreme scholars?

KEEP MOVING FORWARD. Don’t ever feel like you’re stuck. Whether things are going good, bad, terrible, or excellent, life is constantly moving forward. Move with it. Keep your eyes forward, you can barely afford to glance back. Don’t suffer in silence. Speak up. Trust the new bonds you form as you move forward.